We were due with our little one on Friday, October 10th. I had a doctor's appointment that day and I was 1-2 cm dilated and 20-30% effaced, exactly what I had been the week prior. The doctor sent me home and said that we would talk about scheduling an induction at my next appointment. I made that appointment for the following Friday with every intention of not making it. I was going to have that baby before then!
I went home and started trying every labor-inducing wives tale I had ever heard of. I ate pineapple, I bounced on my big exercise ball, I walked hills, even sex (the hilarity of the logistics of attempting that last one deserves a blog post of its own). NOTHING WORKED. I had Braxton Hicks contractions but nothing serious at all. At one point they got consistent and even though in my subconscious I knew that they weren't the real deal, I had Bill drive me down to the hospital to be checked. My intuition was right. No change. The waiting game was awful!
Finally on Friday, October 17th at my 41 week appointment the doctor told me she would like to get me in to be induced before the weekend was over. I had a non-stress test that showed a few variable decelerations in Liam's heart rate so they sent me for a biophysical profile. Turned out that everything with the baby was just fine. By the time the BPP was over, I was told that the hospital had no open induction times and that they would call me when one opened up. That was NOT what I wanted to hear. I had no idea when they would call, how long I would have to be ready, how the process worked... my type-A personality was left with little information and I was ANXIOUS.
We went home and tried to relax. I woke up Saturday morning as anxious as ever. Finally I decided to call the on-call physician and see what the heck was going on. She ended up taking a look at my chart and called me back to tell me that they had an opening for an induction and I as placed in the 9pm-midnight slot. That meant they would call me in that general time frame and have me come down to the hospital.
We got the call at 11:45pm that Saturday night. Everyone told me to eat on the way but I couldn't even think about it.. I was too nervous. When we got there we had to wait a bit. They finally checked us in and got us into the birthing room around 1:00am. The nurses came in and started my IV and got me on the monitor. The doctor had to come in and do an exam before they started the actual induction and she was busy with an emergency c-section and another birth at the time so they encouraged us to nap. The doctor came in around 3am and did her exam. They decided to use a medicine to soften my cervix to get the process started. After they put it on I started to feel some light contractions and tried to nap.
By the time the daytime on-call doctor arrived (who happened to be the fabulous doctor I saw for most of my pregnancy!) I was dilated to 3 cm. She decided it was time to start the Pitocin! I was so excited!! This was it! By the time shift change happened and they started the medicine it was probably about 8:30 am. Before I knew it my contractions were coming pretty close together. The contractions themselves weren't awful but the low back pain that came with each one was... painful.
I was laboring along when they asked me if I wanted an epidural. Up until we arrived at the hospital I honestly had not made a decision as to whether or not I would want it. Going in, I thought I should try to do it without the meds. I told them how the contractions weren't that horrible on my stomach but the back pain was getting to be really bad. The anesthesiologist explained to me that less that 15% of women in back labor get relief from and epidural. At that point, I decided that 15% was worth a shot!
I'm not sure if it was the epidural or all of the manipulation and pushing they did on my back, but all of a sudden I felt a lot of relief. I had one little patch on my stomach that still had feeling but other than that, I felt good. My right leg even went completely numb. That was a weird feeling!
Fast forward another hour or so. The doctor comes in to check me and I'm at 6cm! I was so excited! She even broke my water for me. At that point, she told me that I had already gone through what traditionally takes the longest during labor, the 4-6cm period. Things were moving along great! I was so happy! Our families were starting to arrive and my mom came up into the labor suite to check things out. At one point the nurse bopped in and had me switch to a side-lying position because baby's heart rate was slowing a little. I knew as a nurse myself that there can be completely benign drops in heart rate related to positioning during labor so I wasn't worried. The nurse left and Bill started showing my mom around the room. She was oohing and aahing at the little station they have set up where baby would get cleaned and checked out.
That's when my nurse and the charge nurse quickly and calmly entered the room with that look on their face. If you are a nurse, you've made this face. It is the "something is wrong and I don't want to scare you but I mean business right now" face. They quickly had me turn on my other side and turned the monitor up. The monitors are positioned that moms cannot see them which was probably good for me because I know how to read them and likely would have been even more anxious.
They asked my mom to leave. There was a flurry of activity and this is where it gets blurry for me. The baby was having some decelerations that were not rebounding. His heart rate, which should've been between 120 and 160 or so was in the 80s. They had me get on all-fours. Telling the story now, this is the funny part. Remember how I told you my right leg was numb? Try being scared, half-naked in a hospital gown, with one side of your legs totally numb and then get on all fours. Bill had to stand behind me to hold me up. There were probably a dozen nurses in this room at this point. In retrospect (since everything is fine now), picturing this makes me cackle. But at the time, I was terrified. They slapped oxygen on me, turned off the pitocin, switched my fluids over to run wide-open, and called the doctor. I didn't even see Dr. Swanson come in. I just remember her saying "call the OR."
Bill said that the nurses told us that things were serious and would start moving fast and it would seem chaotic but they had it under control. I don't remember that. I remember thinking the worst. And praying for the life of our baby. And shaking. And crying. In the blink of an eye they were running my bed down the hall toward the OR. They had left Bill behind and I didn't know when they were going to get him. They called a "Condition O" over the whole hospital speaker as the wheeled me down. My mom was meeting my dad and sister in the lobby and they heard that call.
As they wheeled me into the OR the anesthesiologists were already pushing meds into my epidural catheter. It's a total God-wink that I got the epidural when I did. Had I not, they would have had to put me to sleep completely under general anesthesia.
Being moved onto an OR table and prepped is a surreal experience for someone that has worked in the OR. I had never so much as broken a bone, let alone had surgery. I had prepped dozens of patients, done countless transfers and OR counts, and time-outs but now it was ME on the table. I was TERRIFIED. I was shaking and crying. All I wanted was Bill to hold my hand and pray with me for our baby.
As they got me hooked up on the fetal heart rate monitors in the OR, something awesome happened. The baby's heart rate began to rebound. It was above 110. This meant that things were a little less urgent. We could all breathe. Well, they said we could. I was still panicking. I asked the CRNA to please find my husband. My anesthesiologist himself, the doctor, went looking for him and brought him to us. I cannot imagine what Bill must have been thinking or feeling.
When they were about to make my incision the doctor told me that I would feel pressure and that was normal, but I should not feel pain. If you have had a c-section with a spinal, you know what I mean when I say this: HOLY FREAKING WEIRD!!! You can feel them cutting you open and pulling on your insides but it doesn't hurt. It's seriously bizarre.
Those few short minutes from when they wheeled me into the OR until Liam made his entrance seemed like hours. Bill says it was under 5 minutes. All I know is that when we heard our son screaming, we lost it. I have never cried happier tears. Bill and I were looking right into each other's eyes. It was the most special moment I have ever experienced.
"It's a BOY! And he is loud." Umm, have you met his parents?! For 41 weeks and 2 days I waited for Bill to be able to tell me the gender of our baby and I heard it from our doctor from behind a big sterile drape. And I didn't give a darn! All I cared about was that our BOY was healthy! Since it was his heart rate that was the issue, the NICU docs and nurses took him right away to their little station on the side of the OR. Then when they were done weighing him and measuring him and taking his nearly perfect Apgar scores, they handed our son to Bill. I just stared. He was 8 lbs 12 oz, 24 inches of perfection.
After this, it gets blurry for me. I know that it took much longer to close me than it did to open me. I know that when the anesthesiologist went to take my oxygen mask off I told her I wanted to keep it (why is beyond me, I was fine). I know that when I was closed and they were wheeling my bed back in I reached down and felt this rubber stuff. Turns out it was my numb legs. (I told you surgery is weird). I was going to recover in the ICU and I vaguely remember that Bill went ahead to get my things. I think the baby was with him.
I nursed him as soon as we got to the room and he latched right away. I was in my own little drugged up, baby heaven. Bill changed the first diaper without a nurse by his side or even being prompted. He was a pro already. When our families got there I was sleepily ecstatic. It was so special to watch them all meet this baby boy. They were dying to know his name, which we hadn't yet decided.
After they left we decided on William Harvey Pierce - Liam for short. William is a name that has been passed down in Bill's family for five generations, now six. Harvey is my dad's dad's name. It is a perfect, strong blend of tradition. Two things old combined to make something new.
I do want to include that we are so incredibly thankful for the nurses, physicians, and all of the staff that worked with us at Magee, this hospital where we delivered. We are so incredibly grateful for each and every person we worked with.
Absolutely nothing about my birth experience went as planned. Things continued to go not as planned and have ever since. I was so set against having a c-section. I was determined to give birth vaginally and hoped to do it naturally. But Liam had other plans. I call it my crash course in motherhood. After all, we plan and God laughs, right? All that matters is that we are all safe and healthy. We are in love with our little Liam!
I went home and started trying every labor-inducing wives tale I had ever heard of. I ate pineapple, I bounced on my big exercise ball, I walked hills, even sex (the hilarity of the logistics of attempting that last one deserves a blog post of its own). NOTHING WORKED. I had Braxton Hicks contractions but nothing serious at all. At one point they got consistent and even though in my subconscious I knew that they weren't the real deal, I had Bill drive me down to the hospital to be checked. My intuition was right. No change. The waiting game was awful!
Finally on Friday, October 17th at my 41 week appointment the doctor told me she would like to get me in to be induced before the weekend was over. I had a non-stress test that showed a few variable decelerations in Liam's heart rate so they sent me for a biophysical profile. Turned out that everything with the baby was just fine. By the time the BPP was over, I was told that the hospital had no open induction times and that they would call me when one opened up. That was NOT what I wanted to hear. I had no idea when they would call, how long I would have to be ready, how the process worked... my type-A personality was left with little information and I was ANXIOUS.
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| 41 weeks, 1 day pregnant |
We got the call at 11:45pm that Saturday night. Everyone told me to eat on the way but I couldn't even think about it.. I was too nervous. When we got there we had to wait a bit. They finally checked us in and got us into the birthing room around 1:00am. The nurses came in and started my IV and got me on the monitor. The doctor had to come in and do an exam before they started the actual induction and she was busy with an emergency c-section and another birth at the time so they encouraged us to nap. The doctor came in around 3am and did her exam. They decided to use a medicine to soften my cervix to get the process started. After they put it on I started to feel some light contractions and tried to nap.
 |
| Our "we're going to have a baby today" faces |
I was laboring along when they asked me if I wanted an epidural. Up until we arrived at the hospital I honestly had not made a decision as to whether or not I would want it. Going in, I thought I should try to do it without the meds. I told them how the contractions weren't that horrible on my stomach but the back pain was getting to be really bad. The anesthesiologist explained to me that less that 15% of women in back labor get relief from and epidural. At that point, I decided that 15% was worth a shot!
 |
| SO PREGNANT |
Fast forward another hour or so. The doctor comes in to check me and I'm at 6cm! I was so excited! She even broke my water for me. At that point, she told me that I had already gone through what traditionally takes the longest during labor, the 4-6cm period. Things were moving along great! I was so happy! Our families were starting to arrive and my mom came up into the labor suite to check things out. At one point the nurse bopped in and had me switch to a side-lying position because baby's heart rate was slowing a little. I knew as a nurse myself that there can be completely benign drops in heart rate related to positioning during labor so I wasn't worried. The nurse left and Bill started showing my mom around the room. She was oohing and aahing at the little station they have set up where baby would get cleaned and checked out.
That's when my nurse and the charge nurse quickly and calmly entered the room with that look on their face. If you are a nurse, you've made this face. It is the "something is wrong and I don't want to scare you but I mean business right now" face. They quickly had me turn on my other side and turned the monitor up. The monitors are positioned that moms cannot see them which was probably good for me because I know how to read them and likely would have been even more anxious.
They asked my mom to leave. There was a flurry of activity and this is where it gets blurry for me. The baby was having some decelerations that were not rebounding. His heart rate, which should've been between 120 and 160 or so was in the 80s. They had me get on all-fours. Telling the story now, this is the funny part. Remember how I told you my right leg was numb? Try being scared, half-naked in a hospital gown, with one side of your legs totally numb and then get on all fours. Bill had to stand behind me to hold me up. There were probably a dozen nurses in this room at this point. In retrospect (since everything is fine now), picturing this makes me cackle. But at the time, I was terrified. They slapped oxygen on me, turned off the pitocin, switched my fluids over to run wide-open, and called the doctor. I didn't even see Dr. Swanson come in. I just remember her saying "call the OR."
Bill said that the nurses told us that things were serious and would start moving fast and it would seem chaotic but they had it under control. I don't remember that. I remember thinking the worst. And praying for the life of our baby. And shaking. And crying. In the blink of an eye they were running my bed down the hall toward the OR. They had left Bill behind and I didn't know when they were going to get him. They called a "Condition O" over the whole hospital speaker as the wheeled me down. My mom was meeting my dad and sister in the lobby and they heard that call.
As they wheeled me into the OR the anesthesiologists were already pushing meds into my epidural catheter. It's a total God-wink that I got the epidural when I did. Had I not, they would have had to put me to sleep completely under general anesthesia.
Being moved onto an OR table and prepped is a surreal experience for someone that has worked in the OR. I had never so much as broken a bone, let alone had surgery. I had prepped dozens of patients, done countless transfers and OR counts, and time-outs but now it was ME on the table. I was TERRIFIED. I was shaking and crying. All I wanted was Bill to hold my hand and pray with me for our baby.
As they got me hooked up on the fetal heart rate monitors in the OR, something awesome happened. The baby's heart rate began to rebound. It was above 110. This meant that things were a little less urgent. We could all breathe. Well, they said we could. I was still panicking. I asked the CRNA to please find my husband. My anesthesiologist himself, the doctor, went looking for him and brought him to us. I cannot imagine what Bill must have been thinking or feeling.
When they were about to make my incision the doctor told me that I would feel pressure and that was normal, but I should not feel pain. If you have had a c-section with a spinal, you know what I mean when I say this: HOLY FREAKING WEIRD!!! You can feel them cutting you open and pulling on your insides but it doesn't hurt. It's seriously bizarre.
Those few short minutes from when they wheeled me into the OR until Liam made his entrance seemed like hours. Bill says it was under 5 minutes. All I know is that when we heard our son screaming, we lost it. I have never cried happier tears. Bill and I were looking right into each other's eyes. It was the most special moment I have ever experienced.
"It's a BOY! And he is loud." Umm, have you met his parents?! For 41 weeks and 2 days I waited for Bill to be able to tell me the gender of our baby and I heard it from our doctor from behind a big sterile drape. And I didn't give a darn! All I cared about was that our BOY was healthy! Since it was his heart rate that was the issue, the NICU docs and nurses took him right away to their little station on the side of the OR. Then when they were done weighing him and measuring him and taking his nearly perfect Apgar scores, they handed our son to Bill. I just stared. He was 8 lbs 12 oz, 24 inches of perfection.
After this, it gets blurry for me. I know that it took much longer to close me than it did to open me. I know that when the anesthesiologist went to take my oxygen mask off I told her I wanted to keep it (why is beyond me, I was fine). I know that when I was closed and they were wheeling my bed back in I reached down and felt this rubber stuff. Turns out it was my numb legs. (I told you surgery is weird). I was going to recover in the ICU and I vaguely remember that Bill went ahead to get my things. I think the baby was with him.
I nursed him as soon as we got to the room and he latched right away. I was in my own little drugged up, baby heaven. Bill changed the first diaper without a nurse by his side or even being prompted. He was a pro already. When our families got there I was sleepily ecstatic. It was so special to watch them all meet this baby boy. They were dying to know his name, which we hadn't yet decided.
After they left we decided on William Harvey Pierce - Liam for short. William is a name that has been passed down in Bill's family for five generations, now six. Harvey is my dad's dad's name. It is a perfect, strong blend of tradition. Two things old combined to make something new.
I do want to include that we are so incredibly thankful for the nurses, physicians, and all of the staff that worked with us at Magee, this hospital where we delivered. We are so incredibly grateful for each and every person we worked with.
Absolutely nothing about my birth experience went as planned. Things continued to go not as planned and have ever since. I was so set against having a c-section. I was determined to give birth vaginally and hoped to do it naturally. But Liam had other plans. I call it my crash course in motherhood. After all, we plan and God laughs, right? All that matters is that we are all safe and healthy. We are in love with our little Liam!
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